Cannot open add / remove programs

When I select add/remove program icon in control panel, nothing happens. I cannot open the add/remove program.

I have Windows XP, Professional, 2002 SP3.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

 

Greetings, thomas9.

Try this: click Start > Run.

In the command prompt, paste this: %SYSTEMROOT%\SYSTEM32\appwiz.cpl

Press Enter.

Does the add/remove programs applet then open?

 

No it did not.

 

Do you have administrative rights for this machine? These commands must be run as administrator.

 

Ok - I may have misled you.

You still must have admin rights.

Click Start > Run. Type cmd.exe and press Enter.

Then paste %SYSTEMROOT%\SYSTEM32\appwiz.cpl into the command window and press Enter.

Close the command prompt, reboot, and see if the applet opens.

 

Yes I have administrative rights.
I followed the instructions. Nothing changed.
Add/Remove program still does not respond.

 

Do you have any Norton or Symantec programs installed? If so, you might try disabling them and trying the command prompt paste again.

Is the machine running normally - no other issues or symptoms?

And, what else have you tried to fix this problem?

 

No Norton or Symantec programs running.

Computer is running fine. All other programs, email and internet are running fine. I ran into the problem recently when I had difficulty downloading iTunes. I kept getting error messages with iTunes so I tried to uninstall iTunes, but the "add/remove programs" was not working. So I am trying to get this fixed so I can get iTunes fixed.

I use ad-aware and malwarebytes anti-malware for occasional scans of the computer. These have found no viruses or malware recently. I downloaded these last year when the computer did have a trojan. After trojan was removed, computer has been working properly ever since. Maybe the trojan removed this functionality?

Thanks for the help.

 

Yes, it is possible that the trojan or the cleaning process itself may have corrupted the applet. Do you have your Win XP disk? If so, you may be able to copy the appwiz file and overwrite the one on your machine.

As far as uninstalling iTunes, grab Revo Uninstaller and try to get rid of the iTunes with that.

 

I do not have the original XP disc.

I followed some Microsoft forum advice. I typed in "REGSVR32 APPWIZ.CPL" and it gave me an error message. I attached a screen shot.

Microsoft forum recommends I evaluate some registry entries. That is above my pay grade. Do you know where I can find this appwiz file to replace the original one?

 

Look in your Windows > System32 folder. What size is your APPWIZ.CPL file?

 

537kb